Giants just didn't play well

By GEORGE O'GORMAN

PHILADELPHIA -- It would be easy for the Giants to point to Keith Hamilton's absence as a big factor in their 17-3 loss to the Eagles last night.

After all, a lot of the Eagles' biggest runs came on plays run to the side where Hamilton would have been playing.

"I don't want to make excuses for our performance," linebacker Michael Barrow sad after the Giants dropped their second straight game and fell two behind the Eagles in the NFC East race. "We had enough guys on the field tonight that we should have been able to make the plays. But you just wish you had all your weapons when you go into a war like this."

The biggest casualty of this war was wide receiver Ike Hilliard, who suffered a dislocated shoulder in the third quarter when he stretched for an overthrown pass and got blasted by Brian Dawkins' helmet on a vicious cheap shot hit.

Coach Jim Fassel said Dawkins' hit "should be a penalty." Asked if he considered it a cheap shot the coach said "I'm not going to go ... The league will address that with a fine if they see it necessary."

The Giants' inability to stop the scrambling runs of quarterback Donovan McNabb and slashing runs and power bursts of Duce Staley contributedmost to them losing on Monday Night Football against the Eagles for the sixth time in seven meetings.

McNabb darted 40 yards for a touchdown with 10:30 left in the game to lock up the win, but only after the Giants drove to 13 then on consecutive plays got flagged for having 12 men in the huddle, for holding by Mike Rosenthal, and finally saw QB Kerry Collins fumble a snap from center.

The Eagles didn't dominate like they had been expected to, but their defense still kept the Giants without a touchdown for the second straight year on Monday Night Football.

On McNabb's touchdown run the Giants had Barrow acting as a "spy" on the Eagles QB. But even that defensive tactic didn't work.

"It was a screen play, and when I went to the screen he pump faked then did his Magic Johnson thing and took of," said Barrow. "McNabb is like the point guard on the basketball team the way he runs their offense. He played excellent tonight."

The Giants had no answers to stopping either McNabb, who rushed seven times for 111 yards, or Staley (24 carries for 126 yards). It was the first time the Eagles' had two 100-yard rushers since 1984.

"We just didn't play well," said Michael Strahan, "not nearly as well as we should have. We missed tackles, plain and simple. All losses are disappointing, and this is no different even if it is the second in a row.

"We made a lot of mistakes, had a lot of holding on our guys and didn't catch a break -- like on Dixon's catch."

The Giants looked to have moved to the 30 on a completion from Kerry Collins to Ron Dixon, but the play was ruled an incomplete pass after the Eagles challenged the call on the field.

"I had the first down and was bouncing up to get back for the next play when the ball came out," said Dixon. "I was down by contact and tried to bounce back up to keep things moving."

Typically it worked out the other way for the Giants, keeping them from a potential lead on a night when they never could get the upper hand when they needed it most.